Century Bond, Jobless Claims, Home Sales
Austria is issuing its 2nd 100-yr bond with a yield of 0.88%. Why would anyone want to put money away for 100 year for such paltry returns? One reason is capital appreciation if you believe rates will continue to go down. For example if the rate of that yield decreased to 0.44% theoretically you could […]
Jobless Claims Remain at 1.5M, Tight Supply, Strong Purchase Applications
Which economies have fared well during Covid and do they have anything in common? Japan & Germany’s work sharing programs have performed well – instead of cutting 20% of your workforce cut everyone’s hours by 20% and the government provides assistance as well. Ultimately countries with the best healthcare and aggressive early public health responses […]
Fed Meeting, Jobless Claims, Remarkable 10-Year Change in Home Equity
Rates – moved back down to historic lows near after Fed meeting on Wednesday that rocked equity markets. Jobs – the number of people filing for unemployment for the first time continues to decline but remains at an alarming 7X pre-covid numbers and over 2X previous recession highs (600K). Fed – the Fed met on […]
WFH, Strong Purchase Applications, Rates Flat
WFH – the percentage of people working from home in the US increased from 15% to 50% in the last month. If your company offered WFH you had a 33% lower chance of being laid off during covid-19. Of course in the WFH environment team cohesion and creativity can suffer. As more companies shift to […]
Disney Shanghai, Jobs Report, Forbearance Numbers
Social Distancing – in China is extremely deliberate. To enter the Disneyland park you need to: wear a mask, pass a temperature check, & pass an individual QR code check which provides data on your recent travel and spits out an algorithmic score of your infection risk based on movement. Rates – increased nominally this […]
Back to Work? 22M Jobless Claims & Forbearance
Covid-19 – worldwide countries, states, counties and cities weigh the cost of opening back up the economy versus maintaining social distancing/shelter in place. Texas announced they will re-open with a clear plan: 4/20: State Parks – masks required, groups more than 5 prohibited, maintain social distance4/22: surgery restrictions lifted4/24: all retail stores open limited to […]